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History of the Chicago 
Association of Collegiate 
Alumnae nnnnnnnnnnnMM 




1888-1917 



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History of the Chicago 
Association of Collegiate 

Alumnae By Marion Talbot^ 




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1888-1917 



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INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

The Committee appointed to prepare a history of the early years 
of the Branch presented its report in outline at a meeting held on 
January 19, 1918. Since that time the outline has been partially filled 
in and is now presented as a permanent record of a term of years 
rich in educational service. 

A scrutiny of the records indicates that a college training does 
not necessarily result in making a young woman an archivist. The 
battered, but precious, Secretary's books contain slight evidence 
that the officers of the organization realized that in years to come 
their actions would be studied in an attempt to make an historical 
survey of the methods followed and the results achieved by the 
Branch. The minutes of one annual meeting are entirely missing; 
memorials ordered to be entered upon the minutes do not so appear ; 
pledges to raise funds are voted without any indication of the final 
result; the phrase, "The recommendations of the committee were 
adopted," frequently appears without any indication of their con- 
tent. There are no detailed financial records, but only here and 
there a statement as to an expenditure or a balance in the treasury. 
The significance of such a minute. as, "It was moved and seconded 
and carried that a vote of thanks be tendered Mrs. Helmer for her 
herculean eflforts," can easily be interpreted with the help of the 
memory of those who were conversant with Mrs. Helmer's generous 
and self-sacrificing efforts in behalf of the Branch during a long 
period of years, but many similar records would have to pass with- 
out comment from lack of information as to their meaning. In mak- 
ing this confession of the unbusinesslike methods of recording the 
doings of the Branch, the Committee surmises that this Branch is 
not the only offender. In case it must bear this burden alone, it 
has, as offset, the great distinction of counting as members of its 
present Historical Committee the two women who nearly thirty years 
ago were the leaders in organizing the Branch and who nurtured it 
with care and wisdom during its early years, Mrs. Bessie Bradwell 
Helmer and Mrs. Gertrude B. Blackwelder. 

Marion Talbot, 

Chairman. 






HISTORY OF THE CHICAGO ASSOCIATION OF 
COLLEGIATE ALUMNAE 

In December, 1887, the Western Association of Collegi- 
ate Alumnae appointed a committee to confer with a com- 
mittee to be appointed by the Association of Collegiate 
Alumnae concerning the advisability and basis of union. 

In October, 1888, Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer, Mrs. 
Helen Hiscock Backus, and Miss Marion Talbot, represent- 
ing the A. C. A., and Mrs. Bessie Bradwell Helmer, repre- 
senting the Western A. C. A., agreed upon a basis of union 
to take effect in October, 1889, which was later adopted by 
both organizations. The Western A. C. A. disbanded and 
the members residing in Illinois assembled in May, 1889, on 
the call of Mrs. Bessie Bradwell Helmer, State Director for 
Illinois, and organized the Chicago A. C. A., which thereby 
became the eighth branch of the Association of Collegiate 
Alumnae. 

The fabric of the history of the Branch is made up of 
a body of threads into which is woven the pattern which 
shows from time to time the influence of the leaders or the 
compelling power of local issues. 

Throughout the whole period, 1889-1917, there is a con- 
tinuous record of discussions and actions relating to the fol- 
lowing matters : 

1. Place of meeting. 

2. Character of meetings. 

3. Methods of increasing membership. 

4. Means of securing funds and filling a depleted treasury. 

5. Changes in the Constitution. 

6. Relations to the National Association. 

7. Development of social features. 

8. Means of carrying on effective educational work. 

9. Form of publications. 

10. Arrangements for meetings of the National Association. 

11. Methods of interesting women graduating from colleges in 
the Association. 

12. Co-operation with the committees of the Association and its 
Branches in special lines of work. 

The maintenance of the fellowships was a constant sub- 
ject of discussion and effort. This was undoubtedly due, in 
large measure, to the facts that the Branch inherited from 



the. Western A. C. A., a peculiar obligation to support the 
fellowship it had founded in 1888, and that the chairman for 
many years of the National Committee on Fellowships, Mrs, 
Helmer, was an active member of the Branch. 

The meetings were naturally held in Chicago, but in 1897 
the Branch held its annual meeting at Northwestern Uni- 
versity. In 1898 it met "at the usual time and place." The 
records for 1899 are missing, but beginning in 1900, the 
annual meetings were held either at Northwestern Univer-' 
sity or at the University of Chicago. For many years the 
women of the graduating classes of the neighboring univer- 
sities have been guests of the Branch at a spring meeting. 

Another noticeable feature during a long series of years 
was the counsel and active interest freely given by a group 
of notable women, Jane Addams, Julia C. Lathrop, and Flor- 
ence Kelley, a record which is probably unparalleled in any 
other Branch. In the records of the first annual meeting, 
held November 3, 1889, appears for the first time the name 
of Miss- Jane Addams. "A committee of three ladies was 
appointed to communicate with Miss Addams and ask in 
what way the Association could be of assistance to her." In 
February, 1890, this committee reported that Miss Addams 
wished a resident alumna to assist in her work. In May Miss 
Addams was present by invitation and "gave an exhaustive 
account of her wOrk with Miss Starr with the poor people' 
in South Halsted Street." In November, 1890, it was pro- 
posed that the Branch should support a resident, but it was 
not until February, 1893, that formal action was taken, and 
in March, 1893, Miss Julia C. Lathrop was appointed as the 
Hull House fellow. Miss Jeannette C. Welch held the fel- 
lowship for the year 1893-4. 

During the first winter the Branch had a number of 
papers presented on different phases of a subject which 
went under the general term, "Americana," and study classes 
were formed to take up different special topics. The records 
indicate that some very learned papers were presentd. Mr'S; 
Alice Freeman Palmer, President of the A. C. A., was pres- 
ent at the meeting in February, 1890, and as usual contrib- 
uted greatly to the significance of the meeting. 

In April, 1890, Miss Emily F. Wheeler gave a paper on 
Women in College Instruction, in which she called attention 
to the fact that discrimination against women existed even 



in State institutions and that Only subordinate appointments 
on the faculties were given to women. The years which 
have passed have not brought about any very signal change 
in the conditions, but it was significant that at the same meet- 
ing Mrs. Helmer urged the support of the fellowships and 
in this way strengthened the movement which for ' many 
years she led to Unite college women for the promotion of 
high scholarship. 

In June, 1890, an Authors* Reading was proposed, but 
it was not until March 7 , 1891, that it took place — ;the first 
Authors' Reading to Occur in Chicago. The sum of $459.64 
was netted towards the fellowship funds. 

In October, 1890, the A. C. A. held its annual meeting 
in Chicago and was entertained by the Chicago Branch, as 
it was on several occasions in later years, viz., 1893, 1899, 
1906, 1913 (Council), 1916 (Council). 

In February, 1891, an inquiry was made in the Branch 
as to the reasons why so few graduates from the city high 
schools atended college. Under the chairmanship of Mrs. 
Harriet T. Brainard an investigation was made concerning 
the actual conditions in the Chicago schools. There was 
abundant evidence that measures should be taken to interest 
the students in carrying on their studies. Active steps, how- 
ever, were not taken in this direction until the spring of 
1896, when 150 high 'school girls from the senior classes 
attended a special meeting of the Branch. This was the 
first of a series of meetings conducted annually through the 
year 1907-. During the later years the guests were the jun- 
iors rather than the seniors. The special features of these 
meetings were exhibits from the different colleges of the 
Association, addresses descriptive of college life and its sub- 
sequent interests and opportunities, singing of college songs, 
serving of refreshments and the opportunity for the older 
and younger women to become personally acquainted. 
These meetings were abandoned when the numbers became 
too large to maintain the personal quality, and as a substi- 
tute the Branch carried on for a series of years a system of 
sending out representatives to the different public and pri- 
vate high schools to give addresses to the graduating girls, 
and also invited the senior class of women of the neighbor- 
ing colleges to be guests at a meeting in the spring. 



In November, 1891, appears the first record in regard to 
the World's Columbian Exposition, which, from that time 
for two or three years, was destined to prove a very absorb- 
ing interest in the Branch, Mrs. Potter Palmer personally 
appealed to the members of the Branch for their interest and 
support in securing proper representation of the scientific 
work of women and general attendance at the educational 
congresses. Mrs. Rho Fisk Zueblin became chairman of a 
committee to co-op^erate in developing the system of Colum- 
bian guides. Two members of the Branch, Mrs. Mary Whit- 
ney Chapin and Mrs. Harriet Tilden Brainard, were chair- 
men respectively of the Committees on Exhibition and Head- 
quarters and on Representation of the Higher Education of 
Women at the World's Fair Congresses. The members of 
the Branch assumed a large part of the responsibility of car- 
ing fof the national headquarters in the Woman's Building 
and of explaining the exhibit. It was fitting that for a time 
the Branch should become in 1897 the custodian of the medal 
and diploma awarded the A. C. A. by the authorities of the 
Exposition. 

Arrangements were made in March, 1892, for a series of 
lectures on Domestic Science by Prof. Lucy M. Salmon, the 
proceeds of which went to the fellowship fund. In April 
the suggestion appears for the first time that a room be taken 
to be used by all the College Associations. A lecture for the 
fellowship fund was also given by Mrs. Alice F. Palmer on 
"The Influence of College Education Upon Our Homes.'' 
This lecture netted $180.77. 

It is interesting to note that in April, 1893, an address 
was given on the Significance of the Recent Opening of 
Graduate Courses of Study to Women at Yale University, 
The University of Pennsylvania and Brown University, by 
Prof. William Gardner Hale, of the University of Chicago, 
while in the following January Mrs. T. J. Lawrence, the wife 
of a Professor at Cambridge University, England, gave an 
address on "The Possible Union of Womanliness and Intel- 
lectuality Under College Influences." The year 1893-1894 
was particularly significant for many reasons. The Uni- 
versity of Chicago had graduated its first class and the Uni- 
versity was from that time on a source of strength in main- 
taining and increasing the membership of the Branch. 

In December, 18^3, Mrs. Florence Kelley of Hull House, 



chief inspector of factories in the State of IlHnois, spoke on 
the "Formation of a Purchasers' League to Protect Women 
and Children." A committee of three was appointed to con- 
fer with other committees in regard to the formation of such 
a league. The records show little of what action was taken 
until 1897, when, under the leadership of Mrs. Jane E. 
Smoot, the work organized by the joint committee was de- 
veloped, and on December 18th the provisions of a constitu- 
tion for the Illinois Consumers' League were presented and 
the Branch expressed its approval of the formation of 
such a League. It was not, however, until 1898, that the 
Branch ceased as an organization to have any official respon- 
sibility for the League. 

In the same winter, 1893-4, visitation of the public 
schools by members of the Branch was organized. Miss 
Julia C, Lathrop, of the Illinois State Board of Charities, 
directed the interest of the Branch to the need of giving in- 
telligent concern to the State Institutions. 

In April, 1894, attention was called by Mrs. Alice Brad- 
ford Wiles, chairman of the Committee on School Visitation, 
to the need of arousing public opinion to the importance of 
securing appointments to the Board of Education without 
regard to partisan politics. It was moved that the Committee 
be instructed to draw up a memorial addressed to the Mayor, 
who made the appointments to the Board of Education, this 
memorial to be presented to the Association and then made 
public. The motion, however, was lost by a vote of 6 to 10. 
This seems to be the first record of any attempt to use the 
influence of the Branch upon public officers in educational 
matters. The later history of the Branch shows that the 
members soon outgrew the timidity which was shown on this 
first occasion. Indeed, in the following November there is 
a minute that a committee of three was "appointed to frame 
a petition to the local senators and representatives," but 
there is no record to indicate the import of the petition. The 
following is a partial record of official actions taken by the 
Branch in regard to legislative and executive measures : 

January, 1896. Protest sent to the Board of Education against 
the proposed reduction of salaries of teachers in the public schools. 

April, 1898. The Education Commission of Chicago urged to 
provide manual training and household economy for girls. 

December, 1898. Endorsement of the action of the Mayor io 



supporting the contention of Superintendent Andrews that the 
Superintendent of Schools should have the initiative in all matters 
relating to the status of teachers. Petition to the Board of Educa- 
tion under all circumstances to support the Superintendent in the 
exercise of this right. 

April, 1899. Mayor urged to appoint men and women as mem- 
bers of the Board of Education, with special reference to their will- 
ingness to rid the teaching force of incompetent persons. 

January, 1901. Governor Yates asked to reappoint Mrs. Flor- 
ence Kelley as State Factory Inspector. 

March, 1902. Board of Education requested to retain kinder- 
gartens. Public Library Board asked to establish a Children's Read- 
ing Room. 

May, 1902. University of Chicago urged to continue its sys- 
tem of co-instruction. , 

January, 1905. Endorsement of proposed bill to create the Illi- 
nois Library Extension Board. 

January, 1907. City Council requested to make an appropriation 
for medical inspectors and trained nurses in the public schools. 

January, 1908. Board of Education requested to increase the 
number of truant officers. 

January, 1908. Endorsement of proposed work of the Educa- 
tional Commission of Illinois and petition to the Legislature to 
increase its appropriation and place a woman upon it. 

November, 1908. Chicago Board of Education requested to pro- 
vide as complete courses in industrial arts for the girls in the high 
schools as it has for the boys, to establish co-educational technical 
high schools and to extend the courses in cooking and sewing to all 
high schools. 

December, 1908. Endorsement of bill to establish ai National 
Children's Bureau. 

January, 1909. Endorsement of suppression of high school 
fraternities. 

February, 1909. Endorsement of State Library Bill. 

March, 1909. Endorsement of bills providing for a State^Board 
of Education, the certificate plan and township organization of 
schools. 

April, 1909. Approval of bill providing for a State Art Com- 
mission. 

December, 1909. Petition for the retention of school nurses. 

March, 1911. Endorsement of bills raising age of child street 
venders, excluding children from the stage, increasing the library 
taxation fund and raising the ''age of admission to the parental 
school. 

February, 1910. Endorsement of bill to establish % Commission 
for Improving the Condition of the Adult Blind in their Homes. 

April, 1911. Endorsement of resolutions presented by the Col- 
lege Women's Industrial Committee of Illinois. 

June, 1911. Endorsement of proposed legislation in behalf of 
epileptics. 

'8 



February, 1912. Endorsement of arbitration treaties, Children's 
Bureau, and ordinance regulating street trading by children. 

April, 1913. Mayor requested to appoint three women to the 
Board of Education. 

July 26, 1913. Resolution protesting against the resignation of 
Mrs. Ella Flagg Young as Superintendent of Schools. 

April, 1914. Endorsement of action looking to "replacement of 
the system of war by the system of law." 

November, 1914. Disapproval,, of legislative bill providing for 
a "dual system of education," 

February, 1915. Endorsement of Federal Child Labor Bill. 

April, 1915. Endorsement of State Library bill, Teachers' Pen- 
sion bill, Child Labor bill. Injunction and Abatement bill. 

November, 1916. Endorsement of establishment of interna- 
tional agreement that wages paid should be independent of sex. 

In 1895 a Public School Committee was organized and 
carried on for several years a series of diversified activities 
in behalf of the schools. In February, 1896, Miss Marion 
Talbot proposed, as a comparatively new and most promising 
field for investigation, the practical and theoretical study of 
Home Economics in colleges for women. Following this, 
Miss Hannah Belle Clark presented to the Branch a very 
full description of the status of manual training in American 
city schools and a petition urging the extension of instruc- 
tion in manual training and household economy was sent to 
the Education Commission. In June, 1897, it was decided 
to develop the Branch into departments for the considera- 
tion of the public schools. Mrs. Emma Gilbert Shorey 
served as chairman and a very interesting and profitable 
series of meetings followed. In October, 1897, Mrs. Martha 
H. MacLeish was appbinted chairman of the Committee on 
Art in the Public Schools, which later co-operated actively 
with the Public School Art Society. Mrs. Adele S. Hall 
succeeded as chairman. In the following May the Committee 
reported that through the efforts of the Branch six pictures 
had been hung in the Fallon School. In April, 1898, Mrs. 
Florence Kelley was appointed delegate on parental schools 
to meet the Committee on Compulsory Education. In March, 
1898, through the initiative of Miss Mary E. McDowell, the 
movement in behalf of Vacation Schools received the sup- 
port of the Branch and for several years v/as one of its most 
important activities. Both financial help and personal serv- 
.ice were given. The chairman of. the. Parental .School Com- 



mittee, Miss Esther Witkowsky, reported in October, 1898, 
that the Joint Committee of Women's Clubs had found it im- 
possible to secure the enforcement of the compulsory educa- 
tion laws in the case of delinquent and unmanageable chil- 
dren and had decided that a truant school was necessary. 
This Committee undertook the passage of the necessary leg- 
islation and the ultimate outcome was the passage of a bill 
in April, 1899, making it obligatory on the city of Chicago to 
construct and maintain such a school. Later the legislation 
was enacted which established the first Juvenile Court in the 
United States. 

The Cook County League of Women's Clubs was organ- 
ized in 1898 and the Branch decided in December to join the 
League and send delegates who would serve on the educa- 
tion committee. For many years the chairmanship of this 
committee was held by the delegate from the Chicago Branch 
and very many important educational plans fostered by the 
different women's organizations of the committee were in 
this way quite effectively directed by the Collegiate Alum- 
nae. 

During the year 1898-99 the Branch took an active part 
in the campaign to control the right to confer degrees. A 
bill to wipe out the so-called "diploma mills" of Illinois, 
though supported by many of the most influential educa- 
tors and professonal men of the State, was buried by a de- 
cisive vote. 

In November, 1899, Mrs. M. W. Sikes, as chairman of 
the Committee on Educational Legislation, announced that it 
was the plan of the Committee to collect information for the 
Branch, to watch the working of the new rules of Superin- 
tendent of Schools Andrews, to co-operate in every possible 
way with the Committee of One Hundred, to aid the move- 
ment to extend compulsory education to the entire year, to 
give special attention to the composition of the Board of 
Education, to observe institutions of the state at large, edu- 
caional, penal, and reformatory, and to continue to give 
attention to the progress of bills regulating institutions con- 
ferring degrees. 

The Branch chose for its general topic during the year 
1899-1900 the New Education in Theory and Practice, and 
received detailed reports from its committees on education, 

10 



legislation, educational information, and physicians' work 
in the schools. 

In January, 1900, the Branch started an inquiry as to the 
instruction in sociology and economics offered by the col- 
leges of the Association, the inquiry having special reference 
to opportunities offered for the practical study of pauperism, 
delinquency, and other forms of human wastage, as pre- 
sented to the Branch by Miss Julia C. Lathrop, a member 
of the State Board of Charities. This movement culminated 
in 1904 in the publication of a leaflet prepared by a commit- 
tee of which Mrs. Alice Peloubet-Norton was chairman. It 
included a statement of preparatory professional courses of- 
fered by the colleges belonging to the A. C. A., together with 
a list of the opportunities offered women in Chicago for pub- 
lic and private social service. 

In the spring of 1900 a committee was organized for the 
study of resolutions upon college entrance requirements 
which had been passed recently by a committee of the Na- 
tional Education Association. A very careful study was 
made by Miss Sarah B. Tunnicliff of the extent to which the 
colleges of the State of Illinois and the public and private 
schools of the city of Chicago conform to the recommenda- 
tions outlined. This information was published in tabulated 
form and given wide distribution. 

A suggestion for co-operation between the Collegiate 
Alumnae and the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs was 
made in May, 1900, by Mrs. Louise B. Stanwood. This 
suggestion led to very helpful and friendly relations with 
the State Federation, although no formal connection was 
ever made. 

In 1900-01 a committee, of which Mrs. Madeline Wallin 
Sikes was the chairman, worked in aid of several educational 
bills which were before the legislature, to increase school 
privileges, to provide a State appropriation for school libra- 
ries, to consolidate the rural schools and to build a State 
Home for delinquent boys. The last named bill became a law 
while the others failed, two to pass the legislature, the third 
by the Governor's veto. The chief work of the Committee 
was the preparation of a summary of laws relating to com- 
pulsory education and child labor in the United States. The 
summary was complete and authoritative. It later proved to 
-be of- great value as a missionary document in connection 

U 



with the work of the Consumers' Leagues. It was distributed 
among the Woman's Clubs of IlHnois and sent to the Presi- 
dent of every State Federation of Clubs and rendered serv- 
ice in securing better legislation bearing on compulsory edu- 
cation and child labor, two subjects which are closely inter- 
dependent. Notwithstanding strong opposition, both bills 
later became laws. The Compulsory Education law, as 
amended, increased required attendance from sixteen weeks 
to the full school term and effectually imposd penalties for 
guardians neglecting this duty. This legislation advanced 
Illinois from a low to a high educational rank among the 
States. The service rendered by the Branch under the di- 
rection of Mrs. Sikes was an important factor in securing 
this result. 

Child study was a subject taken up in 1901, under the 
direction of Mrs. Helen T. Catterall. This work was car- 
ried on chiefly through individual studies and observations 
of children made by mothers and teachers. 

The Branch put itself on record in December, 1901, as 
"opposed to discriminations as to salary of school teachers 
on the basis of sex, believing in equal pay for equal work." 
This action led to correspondence with the Board of Educa- 
tion and the Superintendent of Schools and was the begin- 
ning of a movement which the Branch has fostered on every 
possible occasion. 

The Branch offered in January, 1902, to co-operate with 
the Commission on Accredited Schools of the North Central 
Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in an attempt 
to formulate a standard unit of instruction apd to seek a 
method by which saving of time in the period devoted to 
preparatory and college work might be secured. Miss 
Marion Talbot of the Branch had been made a member of 
this Commission and this brought the Branch i^to active co- 
operation with it. 

Following the commendable example of the Boston 
Branch a Committee on the Sanitary Conditions of the Pub- 
lic Schools was formed in 1901. An investigation was made 
in 1902, according to careful plans drawn up by the Chair- 
man, Mrs. C. M. Hill. The questions prepared by the Bos- 
ton Branch were used, the answers made by the principals 
and teachers being purely voluntary. The questions were 
;iouad ill.a;dapted to. Chicago conditions and the answers 

.12 



were so meager and lacking in information that the tabula- 
tion of the blanks kindly made by the State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction was unsatisfactory. It is hoped, how- 
ever, that the experience gained in this effort will be utilized 
at some future time. 

Active aid was given in 1902 to the Home Economics 
Committee of the Boston Branch in securing information 
concerning domestic service and the cost of living. 

The meetng of January, 1902, was devoted to the work 
of the Committee on Entrance Requirements. Miss Marion 
Talbot, chairman, spoke on the problems involved and read 
letters from several members of the Commission on Gradu- 
ate Schools recently established by the North Central Asso- 
ciation of Colleges and Preparatory Schools. Professor 
Harry Pratt Judson, President of the Commission, and Mr. 
George N. Carman, Secretary of the Commission, gave inter- 
esting addresses. 

The Mary L, Stone Home Economics Exhibit was shown 
for a week in the rooms of the Chicago Women's Club in 
May, 1903, under the direction of the Chicago Branch and 
received much notice from the large number of guests who 
were invited to inspect it. 

In 1903-4 the Committee on Education of the League of 
Cook County Clubs undertook to co-operate with the de- 
partment of Compulsory Education of the Chicago Board of 
Education, by appointing voluntary agents in different parts 
of the city, specially connected with settlements, who re- 
ported cases of truancy which had been overlooked by the 
school authorities. This was done with the full consent of 
the Department of Compulsory Education and upon blanks 
prepared for the purpose of the Department. Besides cor- 
recting cases of truancy, the knowledge of this watchfulness 
on the part of the Women's Clubs acted as a wholesome 
stimulus to the Department of Compulsory Education. The 
organization and execution of this plan was in the hands of 
the Collegiate Alumnae delegates to the League, Mrs. Adele 
Somers Hall and Miss Angeline Loesch. 

In accordance with the provisions of the revised consti- 
tution of the. National Association the Branch elected in 
1904 a delegate to serve to represent the Branch in the Na- 



tional Council. Miss Marion Talbot was elected to serve 
until October 1st, 1908. 

A committee was appointed in April, 1904, to study the 
relations between the public library and the public schools 
in Chicago. This step led to State wide investigation under 
the direction of Mrs. Charlotte Sibley Hilton and to co-opera- 
tion with the Library Committee of the State Federation of 
Women's Clubs in an attempt to secure a state library com- 
mission. The Committee distributed 2,000 copies of a state- 
ment concerning 'library facilities in other states compiled 
especally for this work by Mrs. Annie Mead Fertig, a mem- 
ber of the Branch. 

In March, 1905, the Branch assumed active responsibil- 
ity in the Juvenile Court Committee and appointed as its 
delegate Miss S. P. Breckinridge. The proposal brought 
forward in 1905 looking toward a new city charter held the 
attention of the Branch for several months. Special study 
was given to its proposed educational provisions. The 
Branch was honored in 1905 by having one of its members. 
Miss Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, elected general secretary 
of the National Association. 

The terrible disaster in California in 1906 necessitated 
giving up the proposed annual meeting of the General Asso- 
ciation in San Francisco and in the breach the Chicago 
Branch offered its hospitality. It also provided funds to 
meet the traveling expenses of a delegate from the California 
Branch. 

During 1906-7 committees were organized on Home Eco- 
nomics, on the Physical Welfare of Public School Children, 
and to co-operate with the Exhibition Committee of the 
Municipal Art League. The Committee on Correspondence 
kept in touch with 22 branches. The Committee on Educa- 
tional Information collected information from the colleges 
holding membership in the Association as to their general 
advance in endowment, equipment, and new courses of study, 
as well as concerning the general progress of higher educa- 
tion among women. The Committee on Child-Study car- 
ried on individual work, according to the syllabi prepared by 
Dr. Millicent Shinn. The Committee on Educational Leg- 
islaton attempted to inform the Association of local educa- 
tional events and to arouse interest in pending legislation 
on educational topics. Under the influence of this Commit- 

14 



tee the Association endofsed two bills, One pfoviding iot 
the employment of a commission to revise and codify the 
school laws of the state, the other requiring children under 
sixteen to be either in school or at work. Both attempts 
were successful. The Committee on the Hamline School 
supplied voluntary workers and financial support towards 
the experiment of using one of the public school buildings 
as a social center. The Committee on the Juvenile Court 
consisted of 22 members who were actively engaged in tak- 
ing charge of one or more cases under the jurisdiction of 
the court. Under the direction of the Committee on Vaca- 
tion Schools a musical entertainment was given to raise 
money for this purpose. The Committee on the Physical 
Welfare of Public-School Children co-operated in securing 
the appointment of 150 special medical inspectors and 10 
nurses in the Chicago Public Schools, with the result that 
absences in the schools where nurses were employed were 
greatly reduced. The Branch continued to be represented in 
the League of Cook County Clubs, whose educational divi- 
sion directed its attention to the general problem of truancy, 
with special reference to the establishment of an inter- 
changeable system of transfers between the public and 
parochial schools. 

In November, 1907, the custom was introduced of hav- 
ing a luncheon in connection with the regular monthly meet- 
ing. Various modifications in the administration of this 
function have been made from time to time, but the cus- 
tom has continued to the present and has proved a source of 
pleasure and profit to the members who have been able to 
avail themselves of the privilege. 

The Library Committee, under the direction of Miss 
Louise Roth carried on a series of story hours for children 
at the Chicago Public Library during March and April, 1908. 
This undertaking was soon merged in a general movement 
of the Women's Clubs and as a result a Story Hour Asso- 
ciation was formed whose work the Branch assisted in sup- 
porting. 

In 1907-8 the Branch continued the following commit- 
tees : Child Study, Correspondence, Education Information, 
Education Legislation, Hospitality, Library, Story Hour, 
Membership, Physical Welfare of Public School Children, 
Social Service, Vocation School, Home Economics. 

15 



ftbm iM to 190^ Miss Mary F. Willard sei'ved '^i 
i:reasnrer of the Branch. During the whole time her aged 
father collected the dues, paid the bills, and kept the accounts 
and the treasurer's reports which are on file and are a model 
in spite of the tremulous handwriting. The Branch greW 
to have a sincere affection for their co^WOrker &,nd the rec- 
ords bear an expression of their appreciation. Dr; Willard 
died four years after his service terminated, at the age o^ 
^i years. 

In 1909-10 the Committee on Educational Legislation re- 
ported interest taken in bills concernitlg ecjual franchise fof 
women and to establish a commission for improving the 
Condition of the adult blind in their homes. 

To Miss Sarah B. Tunnicliff should be given the credit 
bf starting the first Committee of Social Service in Septem- 
ber, 1908. Several members had children h6m the juvenile 
Court paroled to them ; others assisted Mr. Roe in his fight 
against the white slave traffic; one went as a delegate to 
the Harrtline School. 

In June, 1910, the chairmanship passed to Miss Lea D. 
Taylor, who decided to make the topic, "The Public Schools 
as Social Centers," the special study of the committee and a 
joint committee with representatives from the various de- 
partments of the Chicago Woman's Club and the Women's 
City Club was formed. During 1910-11 and 1911-12 the 
committee held profitable and interesting conferences. 

During Miss Taylor's absence in Europe in 1911-12, Mrs. 
S. H. Price was chairman of the Committee. Upon Miss 
Taylor's return it was decided to have two committees, Miss 
Taylor remaining as chairman of the Social Service Com- 
mittee and Mrs. Price becoming chairman of the group iu 
charge oi other organized forms of social service lines, viz., 
United Charities, Legal Aid Society, Jewish Home Finding 
Society, etc. A sub-committee was formed to investigate 
the subsequetlt records of the children who had been pupils 
in the various sub-normal rooms of the city schools. 

Ih 1913-14 the Program Committee having assigned a 
meeting to each of the Committees, Miss Taylor secured Mr. 
William Wirt, Who spoke on the Gary system of education, 
and Mrs. Squire, who had become chairman of the Social 
Service Committee, secured Mr. Samuel B. Allison, Superin- 

16 



tettdent of Special Instruction, to speak on "The Ediicatidti 
of Backward Children in Chicago," and she also read a paper 
herself on the result of the investigation on sub-normal chil- 
dren. 

In Novembef, 1914, Miss Mafgafet Friend, chairman of' 
the Committee on Volunteief Service of the National A. C^ 
A., spoke dn the importance of interesting young women 
graduates in social service work and of having the A. C. A. 
serve as a clearing house fOr them. Mrs. S(Juife, as chair- 
man of the Social Service Comniittee, assumed this re^ 
sponsibility and gradually built up the Bureail df Social 
Service, which was composed of delegates frotti the A. C. A., 
the Chicago Woman^s Club, and various alUmnae clttbs, each 
delegate paying two dollars. The use of a room rent ffee 
Was given by Miss Ellen Holt and the A. C. A. appfdpriated 
small sums from time to time for incidental expenses. More 
than eighty volunteers were placed in widely different lines — 
English to a class of Polish women at Michael Reese Hos- 
pital, sewing to little girls living near the South Chicago 
Steel Mills. 

When the Women's Committee of the Council of Na- 
tional Defense organized the Department of Home Chari- 
ties, efficiency demanded the union of these two organiza- 
tions, covering the same ground and, accordingly in the fall 
of 1917, workers, funds, and plans were merged in the 
Women's Committee and the work of the Social Service 
Committee or Bureau of the A. C. A. came to an end after 
nearly ten years of life. 

In October, 1910, Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews, Secretary 
of the International Peace Conference, spoke on "Interna- 
tionalism." Addresses on new vocations and professions for 
women were made. In 1910 the Branch undertook new 
work in connection with the Woman's City Club and the 
Chicago Woman's Club consisting of an investigation of 
industrial training for girls, especially in regard to the young 
girl between 14 and 16 years, not affected by the Compul- 
sory Education Bill of Illinois. There were about 4,000 of 
these girls in Chicago, all of whom were practically unpre- 
pared to earn a livelihood. In April, 1911, the Branch made 
a contribution toward paying the services of Miss Anne S. 
Davis as investigator for the Chicago School of Civics and 
Philanthropy in securing data to be used in promoting voca- 

17 



tional guidance of girls from 14 to 16 years of age. Latef a 
joint committee from the Branch, the Chicago Woman's 
Club and the Woman's City Club was formed to maintain 
and develop this work. The delegate from the Branch w.as 
Miss Katherine E. Dopp. The scope of the work gradually 
broadened and enlisted the support of other organizations 
and its progress was frequently reported to the Branch, and 
various aspects of the subject discussed by experts in voca- 
tional guidance. This work was later taken over by the 
Board of Education as the Vocational Education Bureau. 

In 1911-12 the membership reached 300, The most im- 
portant work which was undertaken was co-operation with 
Other college women in the establishment of an intercol- 
legiate bureau of occupations for trained women workers. 
This movement which was originally suggested by the Phila- 
delphia Branch in March, 1902, was directed on behalf of 
the Branch by a Committee whose chairman was Mrs. Julia 
W. Nicholson. A great part of its success was due to the 
untiring efforts of the President, Miss Mary Ross Potter. 
Tn connection with this undertaking Mrs. Adele Somers 
Hall secured statistics concerning vocational opportunities 
for college women. 

The more or less desultory program of social topics 
which occupied the winter of 1911-12 led naturally the next 
winter to a carefully arranged series of addresses by promi- 
nent social workers of the city. These were supplemented 
by reports from groups of members who had assumed the 
responsibility of visiting and becoming acquainted with the 
work of different social agencies. One practical outcome 
followed some time later when, through the initiative of the 
Branch, a group of senior women at the University of Chi- 
cago organized and conducted weekly classes in gymnastics 
and folk dancing at the State Industrial School for Girls. 
This work was kept up for two years or until the School 
was able to make provision for such training through its 
own staff. 

In the summer of 1913 the extension of the franchise to 
women of Illinois was enacted and its effect on the Branch 
was immediately seen in the formation of a civics class and 
in other methods of preparation for the new duties of citi- 
zenship. 

18 



The Branch has sent regular delegates to a considerable 
number of organizations, including the following: 

Consumers' League. 

League of Cook County Clubs. 

Vacation School Committee. 

School Extension Society. 

Story Hour Association. 

Daughters of the American Revolution. 

Education Commission of the Civic Federation. 

Juvenile Reform Conference. 

Exhibition Committee of Municipal Art League. 

Chicago Health League. 

Drama League of America. 

Central Committee on Municipal Suffrage. 

Juvenile Protective League. 

College Women's Industrial Committee of Illinois. 

The Joint Committee of Vocational Supervision. 

International Congress of School Hygiene in London. 

Intercollegiate Bureau of Occupations. 

Conference of Federal Employment Bureau. 

Illinois Woman's Legislative Congress. 

In several cases a committee of the Branch was the 
nucleus of the organization, which later was enlarged and 
became independent. In all cases of co-operation there is 
no question that the endorsement of the Branch and the 
active and intelligent service of its delegates were of great 
value. 

Such, in brief, is the record of achievements of a little 
band of women united by a common purpose. One of the 
most striking features is the rapidity with which new ven- 
tures in education, requiring enterprise and even boldness, 
became matters of course in educational procedure. This 
should serve as ground for encouragement to those who be- 
lieve that there is yet a large work for the Branch to accom- 
plish, even though the way may not seem easy or clear. 
The record is necessarily incomplete in one important re- 
spect. By its very nature it can give no adequate account 
of the many friendships formed by those who worked to- 
gether. The close personal ties, based on a sympathetic 
sharing in a common interest, may be said truly to be among 
the most prized of the results of these years of co-operative 
effort in behalf of the education of women. 



19 



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